Tiers, Load Tables, and Iteration Discipline
Goal — Learn how context scales with tiers and load tables, and set the working rules that keep an agent precise.
By the end — A CLAUDE.md with a load table and your working rules, committed.
1Understand the three tiers
Real projects layer their context. A root CLAUDE.md says how you work overall. A sub-project CLAUDE.md says how that part runs. A leaf file describes one single piece.
2See why tiers matter
Your practice site is small, so it needs only the root file today. The pattern is what you are learning — the shape scales even when this project does not need all of it yet.
3Add a load table
A load table maps a task to the file Claude should read for it, so it loads only what is needed, not everything.
Add a small table to CLAUDE.md mapping tasks to the doc to read — styling to docs/design.md, decisions to docs/notes.md.4Understand iteration discipline
How you direct an agent matters as much as structure. One change at a time. Predict before editing. Diagnose before fixing.
These rules keep an agent from making sweeping, hard-to-review changes. Small, confirmed steps stay in your control.
5Write the rules down
Rules you put in CLAUDE.md load every session, so the project itself remembers how you want to work.
Add a short "how we work" section to CLAUDE.md: one change at a time, explain before editing, diagnose before fixing.6Commit the structure
Save the structure so far.
Open the Terminal app.
git add . && git commit -m "Structure the project and its context" && git pushRecap — You added a load table and wrote your working rules into CLAUDE.md — the project now teaches Claude how to work with you.